The body of President Lech Kaczynski was returned to Poland on Sunday, where it was greeted by grieving dignitaries and thousands of Poles lining the route from Warsaw's airport to the presidential palace, AP reported. The plane carrying Kaczynski's body arrived from the airport in Smolensk, Russia where had and 95 others had been heading Saturday to honor 22,000 Polish officers slain by the Soviet secret police in 1940 in the western Soviet Union. Kaczynski's twin brother knelt on the ground and pressed his head against the flag-draped coffin before rising and crossing himself. The coffen was escorted by 10 soldiers from the back of the plane as somber music played. Warsaw Archbishop Kazimierz Nycz was among seven priests and military chaplains who led prayers at the airport and sprinked holy water on the coffin. There was no sign of the twins' ailing mother Jadwiga, who has been hospitalized. The president had canceled several foreign trips lately to be by her side. Also on the tarmac were Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Marta Kacyznski, the only child of the president and his wife, Maria, who also perished in the crash. Thousands of people stood silent in the streets to mourn Kaczynski and the dozens of political, military and religious leaders killed in a Russian plane crash that ravaged the top levels of Poland's elite. Shipyards in Gdansk sparked a workers' strike that spurred the eventual creation of the Solidarity freedom movement. Walesa was among those who signed a condolence book in Gdansk. -- SPA
